7 Ki Baat LAJA Ke Saath with Kiran Demble, Celebrity Fitness Expert, DJ ...

Being aware of and forming a self care routine should not be limited only to beauty and grooming; but to caring for your entire body and soul. LAJA is excited to bring to you one such speaker, who has fought against all odds, survived a health scare and is now an inspiration to many men, women and celebrities alike.

From being a homemaker, to being crowned the Most Beautiful Body Builder in Hungary in November 2013; Kiran has come a long way.

Vandana Joshil, Team LAJA has a heart-to-heart talk with Kiran Demble, Celebrity Fitness Expert, DJ and TEDx Speaker.

Allthatswritten: The Show must go on!!!

Allthatswritten: The Show must go on!!!: The Show Must Go On - On Tour with the LSO in 1912 & 2012  by  Gareth Davies

The Show must go on!!!

The Show Must Go On - On Tour with the LSO in 1912 & 2012 

by 

Gareth Davies

This is book that chronicles The London Symphony Orchestra’s historic maiden American tour of 1912 and the fairly recent tour in 2012. For someone interested in the life of musicians this is a good read. The life of the musicians, especially the members of the LSO in 1912 is brought to life through previously unpublished diaries and photographs.

The London Symphony Orchestra 1912

The London Symphony Orchestra 2012

It’s fun to read about the huge difference in kind of travel, accommodations and travel time of two different time zones. Also lovely to read is the difference in costumes, mannerisms, graciousness and overall gallantry of the two times.

If you are a music lover, you will love this book. If you are a historian, you will love this book. 

However if you are someone who’s reading because you like reading, this might be a slight drag. Nonetheless, do attempt it for a balcony view of the magnificent London Symphony Orchestra’s great Tour of America.

Thanks to Haresh Agarwal, for sharing this book.

It wasn't JUST a slap!!!

2020 promises to be a year of many FIRSTS!

For the first time last night, I decided I wanted to watch a movie without my husband tagging along. You see, all along I’ve wanted him to join me for movies. Most often I would miss out on the movies I wanted to see, because he didn’t like the subject, or the director, or the ideology, or the star. I don’t blame him. He had his reasons; genuine or not. I regretfully tagged along and gave the movies a skip. Not yesterday though!!!

I wanted to see Thappad and decided I would see it, even if I had to watch it all alone. Just as I logged into bookmyshow and selected my seat, I thought id ask my girlfriends if they wanted to tag along; and they did. Yehhh

So, five of us, hurried through our chores, cooked dinner and kept everything ready for our families and then dolled up and went for the movie.

Then as five of us sat and watched the movie, we went through an internal conflict. We retrospected, we introspected,  we responded, we sobbed, we empathized with the protagonist, and we sympathized with our own selves. Don’t get me wrong. We come from happy families, we come from happy marriages, we love our children, we love our husbands.

But for the umpteenth time I sat there wondering ‘WHY’, ‘why do we women choose to keep quiet, why do we accept this, why do we brush it under  the carpet, why do we tell our daughters that its ok, why do we silently watch other women fight their battles, why do we ignore a mans actions, why do we forgive him and tell others to forgive him, why do we advise women to forgive and move on! Why, Why, Why?

Thappad is a movie that questions all the teachings that mothers teach their daughters. This is a movie that questions age old patriarchal norms. It questions a woman’s self-worth.

Mind you, the husband loves his wife, the in-laws adore their daughter-in-law, the parents love their daughter and the brother loves his sister. Yet, when it came to calling out the wrong from the right; each one of them kept silent and then asked the wife to forgive and move on. WHY?

I recommend the movie to everyone and also ask them to watch it with their entire families and make a promise to fix things before it is too late.

The why of Networking

When you are an entrepreneur slogging hard to make your business a success, you need to work smart and use all the possible tools in hand. This includes joining networks, attending meets, interacting, collaborating, actively participating, proposing initiatives et al. While all this might seem like too much work, considering how busy you already are and how pressed for time; this is a much needed task.

You want to know why? Then go through the points below and if these resonate with you and make sense, then put them to use and see how your business grows.

Be like a bee

A bee never just sits on one flower always. It goes from flower to flower collecting honey. As it collects honey it also gives back something to the flower. A pollen here, a pollen there and soon you have a garden full of beautiful flowers of different hues. Similarly, when you network you take with you contacts that you already have; you make new contacts, you also get the opportunity to connect with the contacts of the people you network with. Imagine this A meets B, B introduces A to C, C introduces A and B to D..... so on and so forth. Isn’t this a win win situation?

Be a Student

While you network, you come across all kinds of people. Some great successes at their business, some failures at all ventures, some learners, some preachers, some teachers, some experienced veterans! These are your teachers! If you pay close attention, you will learn so much in a single night’s interaction. If you are a good learner, you might even get an opportunity to meet the best of the best personally and take private tuition from them. The possibilities are endless. Networking will always ... repeat always .. give you take always.

Be a sponge

Observe and absorb as much as possible. You will gain insight into so many market trends just by paying attention. You don’t need to necessarily know everything there is to know about the industry when you start off, but believe me, you will be a lot richer in terms of industry knowledge by the end of a meet.

Take away

The most important take away of Networking are the referrals. Most referrals referred at networking meets are of high quality and are genuinely genuine. When a person refers someone to someone, his reputation is also at stake here. So he will make sure that he passes on good referrals. How you convert the referrals is up to you!

Participate

Don’t just be a face in the crowd when you attend networking events. Straighten your shoulders, put on your best smile and have a conversation with people. You are here not for the free coffee or snacks, you are here to meet, interact and gain some. Unless you talk about yourself and your business, no one will know you. 

You need to make your presence felt for people to remember you and thus want to stay in touch with you.

In all, Networking is not just about dressing up and going into a room full of entrepreneurs. It is about letting the world know that you too are an entrepreneur and that you too are here to profit as much to teach and learn.

                                                                                                                                              

The wish to be a MOTHER

Saw an advt in the news papers this morning (July 30, 2015. Mumbai Mirror. Page 5). While the gist of the matter gave me heart, what bothered me were the specifications! We use such discretion while selecting marriage partners and now are doing so for progeny as well!  

Yes, being sure about what you get is good, but such classifications as “fair or wheatish complexion”! What is that for? Shouldn't the requirement be for a “strong, healthy, ailment free, living a good and clean lifestyle, intelligent donor?

It takes two sets of people for a baby to be born. What guarantee that the receiver is as fair or as wheatish as the donor? What if the receiver is dark and the chromosomes are dominant and therefore the foetus takes on the dominant characteristics? Will the resulting baby be disowned because he or she is dark?

Such advts make my blood boil.

Like I said before the fact that people are advertising openly for egg donors is a sign that now people are more aware, knowledgeable and are more willing to for in for IVF. They are no longer seeking ONLY divine intervention, Babaji ki dua or jadibuti ka chamatkar!   

I guess there is still a long way to go before we accept colour, creed and class. However, till we get there, let me rejoice in the fact that we have atleast woken up. HALLELUJAH! 

Worse than an ANIMAL - He is condemned!!!

Mornings are more often than not spoiled after going through the morning news papers! Today morning was no different and yet I closed the paper with a sickening feeling in my heart. The headlines “SC to hear if Navy right in sacking staffer for incest” http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-to-hear-if-Navy-right-in-sacking-staffer-for-incest/articleshow/47919111.cms made me wonder. Are they ACTUALLY wasting time questioning the right of the Navy to sack this sicko or are they condemning the INCEST!!!!

The case in question is about the need for the Supreme Court to examine a critically sensitive issue wherein they want to check if a Navy officer can be dismissed from service for having consensual sexual relations with his daughter! What is it that I’m missing here? 

For me its a clear cut case of RAPE! Rape of a young girl, rape of trust, rape of faith, rape of the relationship that fathers and daughters share, rape of justice, rape of integrity, rape of dignity, rape of everything that glorifies fathers!

Why then is there a need to even get into any other argument?

The man is guilty in the sorrowful eyes of the girl, in the eyes of the Armed Forces Tribunal, in the eyes of the Navy, and most importantly in the eyes of GOD! There SHOULD be no need for appeal.

He has disrespected his role as a father, he has disrespected his daughter, he has disrespected the relationship, he has disrespected the sanctity of the father daughter bond, he has disrespected common sense and intelligence. He has no right to appeal.

He is condemned!!! MAY GOD NEVER SAVE HIM!!! AMEN!!!